Gills were defeated in the opening group stage fixture of the U21 Premier League Cup on Tuesday evening, losing to an impressive Huddersfield side 4-1 at the Accu Stadium.
The hosts were three up at the break thanks to George Sebine, Jay Sway and Jamie Spencer. The contest was settled early in the second-half with Sebine netting his second of the night, although Harry Webster applied a lovely left footed finish in stoppage time to ensure Gills had something to show for their efforts.
Huddersfield started brightly and took the lead with the first chance of the game on four minutes when Sebine pounced on a loose pass to rob the Gills of possession on the edge of their own penalty area, before drilling an effort beyond Taite Holtam and into the bottom left corner.
The visitors had a half chance just shy of the 20-minute mark when a cross from Harry Webster fell at the feet of Cruz Beszant. With players in front of him he wasn't expecting the ball to fall into his path and as a result, when he did adjust, his shot went over.
From the resulting attack, Huddersfield won a free-kick 25 yards from goal. Spencer wrapped his right foot around the ball and found the left hand side of the net with Holtam unable to reach it at full stretch.
Taite made a smart save from Spencer to keep the deficit at two, but that was nearly halved when Beszant’s deep corner-kick was headed narrowly wide by Zac Whitelock.
Gills created another half chance shortly after when Sully Booth took on his man on the left side before wriggling past a second man and made space for a shot.
He didn’t make the desired contact and as a result it went wide of the right post.
The visitors appeared to have settled but a blocked shot on the edge of the box saw Huddersfield break at pace and Max Murray provided the extra man on the overlap.
His cross to the back post found Jay Sway who tapped home from a yard out.
H/T: Huddersfield Town 3-0 Gillingham
The hosts added a fourth within ten minutes of the restart when Sway’s ball into the box was guided home by Sebine, and a number of changes were made thereafter with the match seemingly decided.
Booth saw an effort deflected wide for a corner which was well cleared by the home defence, with Waldock striking over from 20 yards albeit with the offside flag raised shortly afterwards.
Huddersfield saw a shot of their own blocked for a corner in the closing stages with Ian Togo glancing a header wide of the left post, but Gills pulled one back in stoppage time when Booth did well on the left side to drive into the box and pull the ball back into a dangerous area, and Webster produced a lovely left footed finish beyond Francis Hurl and into the back of the net.
F/T: Huddersfield Town 4-1 Gillingham
Huddersfield: Hurl, Murray, Tawodzera, Neil, Low (Togo 61), Brierley (Hogg 61), Bowker (Bashir 77), Schofield, Sebine (Ebanks-Blake 61), Spencer, Sway (Onyeka 61)
Unused subs: Bennett, Fontoh
Gills: Holtam, Webster, McManus (Adams 81), Luxton (James 70), Waldock, Beszant (Mhlanga 80), Theodore, Booth, Dayal, Antwi (Cross HT), Whitelock (Thomas 54)
Unused subs: Spencer, Jones
Referee: Mr Liam Smith
Attendance: 240
